Periodically, we all recieve warnings about 'bad stuff' happening on the Internet. Our first instinct is to then pass that warning on to our friends, colleagues, pupils and children. And when the warning comes from an official source it almost seems as if its our duty to inform as many people as possible. But should we be doing this?

Mark Bentley, our Online Safety colleague at LGfL has written a really useful blog post (about the dangers of sharing hoax online safety news stories and how to respond next time someone asks you to do so. There's also a great poster to use with your class when they get back in September.

Other Useful Links

• Samaritans guidelines on reporting suicide (relevant in the context of recent tabloid warnings about games aimed at children featuring suicide)
• Online Safety Alerts – Think Before you Scare (guidance from the Kent CC Safeguarding Team on this issue, with examples such as the Killer Clown scare stories)
• Advice for those concerned about the ‘Blue Whale’ story (advice from the UK Safer Internet Centre; this is a good example of why it’s rarely a good idea to scare-share)
• Digital Ghost Stories report from UK SIC on what happened with Momo…
• livestreaming resources, the undressed campaign, and parent safe resources